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At least the seizing of the initiative in the field would be a new experience. And it is just possible that even more is at stake than the organizational efficiency of the Air Forces. People who have studied the matter seem to think so :

There is probably no country where most military leaders have distinguished themselves for any constructive views on delicate social problems--not even when their own services are affected. American while officers cannot be expected to be much better than others; the over-representation of Southerners among officers with peacetime training tends to make those in the higher ranks particularly conservative, on the average, in respect to race relations. Also, they have a hugh job on their hands. However wrong they may be in believing a change in race relations to be a matter of secondary or no importance, it is understandable why they believe it. Yet, this attitude is certainly unfortunate. To advertise bad American race relations by maintaining them in armed forces sent overseas is, under present circumstances, highly detrimental to American interests. Had the improvements come, not mainly as a result of outside pressure from Negroes and others, but because of the action of military leaders who grasped the deeper implications of this War, they would have been much greater and much more significant, not only for the Negro, but for the nation as a whole. 
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